


cut out all the ropes

by shrdmdnssftw



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-26
Updated: 2012-08-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 22:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/496443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shrdmdnssftw/pseuds/shrdmdnssftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>There's a niggling feeling at the back of Liam's mind that says she's still angry at Louis, that they've </i>broken up<i>, but that voice is quieter than the roar of wantpleaseyoupleaselouismissyouhateyouloveyou.</i></p><p> </p><p>Or, Louis tries to win Liam back after a messy break up.</p><p><a href="http://shrdmdnssftw.livejournal.com/8695.html?thread=52983#t52983">Originally posted</a> on the 29th June.</p>
            </blockquote>





	cut out all the ropes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt by [foreverlarrup](http://foreverlarrup.livejournal.com) on LJ. Title from Skinny Love, because I couldn't think of anything else.

Liam wakes up to four PostIt notes on the kitchen counter, one for each month that she and Louis  ~~have been~~  were together. The first has the name of the restaurant of their first date, the second a drawing of Liam's birthday cake. The third has a list of every room they've fucked in (it's surprisingly long) and the fourth has one word written in Louis messy scrawl.   
  
She barely gives any of them a cursory look before scrunching them up and throwing them into the trash. Liam also resolves to call Zayn and tell him the  _rules_  of letting others into her flat.   
  
-   
  
When she gets to her first lecture, there's a gaggle of girls giggling outside of the door and blocking her way. Liam's about to ask what all the fuss is about when the group parts, almost as if she were Moses and this were the Red Sea. (Louis may have been right when she said Liam got too absorbed in her Religion Studies)   
  
Hanging on the door is a photo collage of Liam and Louis and it's almost as if a pre-schooler made it, there's so much colour. She tries to ignore the stares she's getting and enter the room in a huff.   
  
Slinging her bag down beside the seat that Niall's saved her, she nods at him and ignores his bewildered asks of "What's up with you today?"   
  
If the poster stays hanging on the door all day, it's none of her business. Liam has better things to do than to dwell on ex-girlfriends (even if they've only been her ex for a day).   
  
-   
  
Harry is smiling when she clocks in at the bakery and she tries to ignore the way that his smile seems to be directed at her today.    
  
"Li, you're not allergic to flowers or anything, right?"    
  
Harry is asking her a long stream of questions as he rolls balls of biscuit dough and places them on the baking trays.   
  
"No," Liam answers, crossing over her apron strings behind her back, then bringing them back around into a bow at the front. "But you know that?"   
  
"Just double checking," he smiles and Liam tries not to be too weirded out by him today.   
  
She starts her shift by serving a mother and her two twin daughters and tries not to think too much about how she misses hanging out with Louis' family. By the time Liam is almost done and the bakery is about to close, she is proud to say that she's only though of Louis every thirty minutes, rather than every five.   
  
Of course, that's all ruined when their last customer walks in, carrying what appears to be an entire flower shop.   
  
Liam sighs and mentally lists all the jars that she can find in this bakery. She's not taking the flowers home, but it'd be a shame to let them go to waste.   
  
-   
  
If you pestered her, Liam might (maybe) (possibly) (probably) admit that her phone has been off for the past day. She might even confess that she's not checked it since she um. Broke things off with Louis. But that would only be if you pestered her and maybe plied her with a drink or two.   
  
"But  _Zayn_ " she sighs. "She's just so.  _Tiring_ . And it's like she never even paid attention to me until we broke up."   
  
Zayn rubs Liam's arm and tries not to notice how her voice cracks a little on the last few words.   
  
"Maybe, love, you just didn't notice her paying you attention. Heck, half the time I saw her looking at you, you were wrapped up in your books or your work."   
  
Liam lets that sink in, then quite possibly orders another drink.   
  
And another.   
  
And another.  
  
  
-   
  
Zayn is really fuzzy looking. Or blurry. Or something. Liam's not quite sure, but he's funny looking enough to look like Louis, except Louis isn't here and isn't her girlfriend. And for a good reason, because if Louis was her girlfriend, Liam wouldn't be at this club.

 

She also wouldn't be slightly (completely) wasted.

  
"This," says maybe-Louis-maybe-Zayn, "is why you never get drunk, love."  
  
Liam sighs into the neck of Zayn-Louis-maybe-even-Harry (but he lost his fake ID last week). "I don't get drunk," she says. "Not at all not never nope."  
  
The body huffs a laugh and she possibly wants to hug it.  
  
"C'mon, we're getting you home."  
  
She nods her consent and the room spins a little more than she's used to, so Liam lets Louis (because, hey, those are boobs) carry her out. There's a niggling feeling at the back of Liam's mind that says she's still angry at Louis, that they've  _broken up_ , but that voice is quieter than the roar of wantpleaseyoupleaselouismissyouhateyouloveyou.  
  
-  
  
"How'd you even," she hiccups. "How'd you even find me?"  
  
Louis turns around from where he's fetching her a glass of water from the sink. "Zayn called. And Harry texted. And I think Niall might have BBMd me."  
  
"Traitors," she mumbles underneath her breath.  
  
Louis tries to laugh at that, but it maybe hurts too much. "Li, I'm sorry."  
  
She's holding out the glass and Liam pauses before taking it, and drinking it slowly.   
  
"Just. I just. I know I'm not the best girlfriend in the world and I know that I suck at actually showing you that and I know that maybe I shouldn't've had that much vodka at Harry's party or gone without you but. I love you, Liam, okay?"  
  
"'M too tired for this," she says, putting her glass down and finding her way out of the kitchen to lie on the couch. "Jus' go 'way."  
  
Louis doesn't, just sits herself at the end of the couch and waits for Liam to lie her head on Louis' thigh, a force of habit.  
  
"Just. Wanted your attention, Lou. You're always out having fun without me and-"  
  
"You're always in here, getting too absorbed into your studies to even reply to my messages."  
  
Liam sighs a little sadly. "I just. That's just who I am.  
  
But I guess you're having fun is who you are."  
  
"Kind of," Louis says.  
  
"We're both kind of stupid, then, aren't we?"  
  
Louis actually manages to smile at that one. "Yeah, a little."  
  
Liam pushes herself closer. "But maybe me a bit more than you."  
  
"Yeah?" Louis asks. "Why?"  
  
"'Cause I broke up with you and I wish I didn't."  
  
Louis had been hoping but-  
  
"You didn't have to put that photo of us from Niall's 18th on the poster though," Liam says.  
  
"But you look stunning," Louis says with a smile. "Is this- are we okay?"  
  
Liam looks up, considers how drunk she is compared to how sober this conversation has made her, weighs up four months of smiles and laughter with one night of maybe arguments and a couple of thrown plates.  
  
She weighs up the way Louis manages to make waffles  _just right_  but can burn anything else, using the stove or not. Weighs up the stealing of clothes with the giving of gifts. Weighs up being alone with being with Louis and-  
  
"I suppose so," Liam says. "Yeah, I suppose."


End file.
